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"It puts us in line with other cities across the South and across the nation that are taking these steps toward recognizing what these monuments stand for and coming up with a way to see the future differently.”

Miles and Vance Monument Taskforce co-chair Oralene Simmons are organizing a media briefing in Raleigh following the Nov. 1 arguments and will be joined by Noel Nickle, a local Vance family descendant; Asheville Mayor Esther Manheimer; and Jaelyn Miller, community lawyering fellow at Emancipate NC.

Holmes said the case “sends a message to law enforcement and policy makers about the continued need to treat people with respect and protect their Constitutional rights during traffic stops.”

Holmes, who directs the civil litigation clinic at the North Carolina Central University School of Law, was assisted in the long-running case by at least 20 of his law students, he said. Bottom was also represented by Ian Mance, an attorney for Emancipate NC, a Durham-based civil right organization.

Dawn Blagrove, who leads the civil rights group Emancipate NC, said the investigation is not only an attempt to remove Earls from office, but is part of a broad, Republican-backed effort to silence Black people and politicians with recent bills and laws making it easier for police to charge protesters with felony crimes, or to enact stricter voting rules.

“We are currently under a regime that is dead set on taking us back to Jim Crow,” she said.

"What is happening to Justice Earls is a microcosm of what is happening to every Black, brown and marginalized person in North Carolina at the hands of elected officials who are determined to drag this state back to the days of Jim Crow," commentator Dawn Blagrove said.

"If these were white children riding their bikes, trying to get home, the situation would have been handled very differently," [Emancipate NC's] Attorney Dawn Blagrove contended. "I really believe that, because these are Black boys, this district attorney is using this situation to try to appear 'tough on crime' in a way that is having an absolutely absurd result."

“I came here to talk about proactive policing,” said Dawn Blagrove, executive director of Emancipate NC. “And I have the perfect solution: Instead of having 15 Raleigh police officers show up to harass people in southeast Raleigh, why don’t you send them to pick up some of these blind folks that are waiting for four hours at a time?”

“It’s just cooking people alive,” said Cierra Cobb, the prison/jail coordinator, family advocate and a podcast host for the advocacy group Emancipate NC. “Some days were unbearable. Everybody was in there sweating...It was causing tension in the block because everybody’s hot.”

"Apparently, we have to add 'riding a bike while Black' to the list of activities that can subject Black children to state sanctioned violence," Emancipate NC executive director and attorney Dawn Blagrove.

"Clearly, in Gaston County, as well as Gastonia, there are two types of legal systems… One for black and brown people, and another for those who are not black and brown," Kerwin Pittman said. "(The boys) were unjustly targeted, arrested, brutalized, humiliated... All they wanted to do was go home."

Emancipate N.C. executive director Dawn Blagrove said she knows leaders on both sides are having discussions about possible changes but she doesn’t feel like change will happen anytime soon.

“There’s simply not political will to create the changes to make a fair and equitable criminal justice system here in North Carolina,” Blagrove said.

“It is sad that we have to file a lawsuit, a public records lawsuit, just to get a video released," Ben Crump told the crowd. "You know, transparency leads to truth."

Emancipate's Dawn Blagrove joined other speakers calling for justice for Shanquella Robinson.

“We have a process in place to extradite people who have come to America from Mexico ... and from all over the world to seek a better life,” said Dawn Blagrove, executive director of Emancipate NC. “Why can we not employ those same resources and those same processes [with] people who are a danger to folks in ... Charlotte ...?"

"Essentially [this bill] intimidates individuals from coming out to participate and exercise their constitutional rights," said Kerwen Pittman with Emancipate NC.

Dawn Blagrove, the executive director of Emancipate NC, said HB 40 was a “racist” bill “designed to harm and limit the voices of Black, brown and marginalized people.”

“The impact will be to stifle the voices of the most marginalized communities. Make no mistake about it,” said Kerwin Pittman, a criminal justice advocate and organizer with Emancipate NC, adding that peaceful protesters wrongly arrested could lose their jobs if they are forced to be held for 24 hours.

For people struggling to find their way out of the gang lifestyle, [Kerwin] Pittman had one key statement of advice:

"Find somebody who is doing somebody positive and stick with them like your life depends on," he said. "I'm a Black man coming back to redeem the community I once helped to destroy."

Dawn Blagrove argues against token justice in prosecuting Raleigh's police department, saying, "The only person who’s being held accountable at all for any wrongdoing is Abdullah. Even Abdullah [isn't] really being held accountable. It’s just that [Wake County DA Freeman] knew that she had to bring some ... charge."

"Emancipate NC, an advocacy group, has issued yet another call for reforms."

“I was literally placed on this planet to do this,” Jatoia Potts says. “I’ll continue to share my story. My kids will grow up and see later that their mom was still out there, still doing stuff, still fighting for them.”

“DSS has done so many things that have caused so much harm and so much trauma and so much damage,” Toia Potts said.

"Emancipate NC’s Dawn Blagrove spoke loud and clear on Feb. 8 against North Carolina Republicans’ latest 'anti-rioting' bill. She told a legislative committee that the intent of House Bill 40 was to target 'Black, brown, and marginalized people' engaging in nonviolent protests."

“What we want to see is real accountability. Accountability that is acceptable to the people. Accountability that has real teeth and can bring real consequences,” Dawn Blagrove, the executive director of Emancipate NC, said.

“The fact that they claim to have seen an open container and marijuana in the car sounds good and is a practice that we see repeatedly,” Dawn Blagrove said, CNN reported, adding that it’s a move not just from RPD “but from police departments across the country, where they retroactively create scenarios that protect them from the accountability and appearance of impropriety.”

“It’s heartbreaking to think about any person being electrocuted to death for nothing. In a parking lot, alone, begging, screaming and pleading for mercy that the Raleigh Police Department could not and would not offer him. They need to be held accountable for that,” Dawn Blagrove told CNN.

"Emancipate NC and other advocacy groups this week presented a list of demands to the Raleigh City Council. They include firing the officers involved in the arrest, retooling the city’s police advisory board and discontinuing for now the use of Tasers."

“Darryl Williams should not be dead,” Kerwin Pittman said, noting the officers’ use of force “struck me as extremely excessive.”

"There needs to be accountability. These officers, there was no reason that Darryl should be dead right now. And we want to see the city of Raleigh finally take seriously the need to bring real accountability to the Raleigh Police Department," said Dawn Blagrove.

Emancipate NC and Raleigh Demands Justice are calling for the creation of a new committee to look into police accountability. Click below to view the list of demands we delivered to Raleigh city council.

"North Carolina courts are behind other neighboring states in terms of enforcing a 1996 U.S. Supreme Court decision that prevents prosecutors from excluding jurors on the basis of race, Ian Mance, an attorney for civil rights organization Emancipate NC, wrote."

"What we know is that proactive policing, a.k.a. stop and frisk, is a very lazy way to do it, and it is proven to be ineffective and impacting the rate of crime," said Dawn Blagrove of Emancipate NC, denouncing RPD's tactics.

Click to read the full list of demands Emancipate NC and Raleigh Demands Justice made to Raleigh City Council.

"Raleigh Demands Justice, which includes Emancipate NC, ... gave city leaders a packet of information that included eight demands ranging from firing the police officers involved in Williams’ death to dismantling and rebuilding the current police advisory board."

The post highlights Team Emancipate's work, describing our dedication to "providing community education and mobilizing against racialized mass incarceration," and more.

"We should not be harming or hurting, or passing any legislation, that further marginalizes already marginalized people,” said Dawn Blagrove.

“This bill is racist,” said Dawn Blagrove, executive director of the group Emancipate NC. “This bill is designed to harm and limit the voices of Black, brown and marginalized people.”

Dawn Blagrove denounced Raleigh's "proactive patrols," saying, "It doesn’t matter what they found in his car. What matters is that on that night, he was bothering no one. He was minding his own business.”

“Why are you not righting this wrong?” asked Kerwin Pittman, Emancipate NC’s Policy & Program director, during the press conference. “Why are you continuing to victimize this family that was already victimized the first time by Raleigh Police Department?”

“[This] speaks to a larger issue, a systemic issue with the Raleigh Police Department and the culture of the city of Raleigh, it’s seeming that it’s to continue the brutalization of marginalized communities,” Kerwin Pittman said.

"We call on the people of Raleigh to demand that the folks that you have given your power to use it in a way that is fair and is equitable and is just," said Dawn Blagrove. "It's systemic racism that allows police all over the country and specifically here in Raleigh to create special units and give them so much leeway that they think and behave as they are above the law."

Emancipate helped organize the protest and supported protestors calling for justice for Darryl Williams and Tyre Nichols.

Kerwin Pittman of Emancipate NC speaks to protesters gathered to march in downtown Raleigh, N.C. in the wake of the deaths of Daryl Williams in Raleigh and Tyre Nichols in Memphis.

A group protesting Edenton’s Confederate monument and pushing for its removal from the town’s waterfront area is taking its case to new heights... Read the full article.

“Our plan is that it stays up until the monument comes down,” local Move the Monument Coalition activist Rod Phillips said.

"We stand here before you with demands that are not utopian. They are real, they are tangible, and they can be achieved," said Dawn Blagrove. "Black folks in southeast Raleigh can be safe, and they deserve that."

“This report is designed to malign the victim, to malign the murder victim ... What matters is that on that night, he was bothering no one,” said Dawn Blagrove, denouncing RPD's "proactive policing" as nothing more than racial profiling.

"Darryl Williams should not be dead," Kerwin Pittman said. "Their initial encounter with Mr. Williams was unwarranted and unjustifiable."

“Why, when Mr. Williams expressed he had heart conditions, why did they still choose to tase this man again?” asked Kerwin Pittman.

Kerwin Pittman described how "proactive policing" leads to racial profiling: "Law enforcement wasn’t called to the scene. [Officers] just so happened to arrive on the scene, determined certain people were suspicious and wanted to pursue those people. That’s when things escalated."

“In defending this case, the City of Raleigh has elected to use taxpayer money to pay four private law firms, along with two City Attorneys, to employ a defense strategy that has included accusing these innocent mothers and children of criminal wrongdoing and subjected them to a battery of invasive and inappropriate questions,” Emancipate NC wrote.

"[The City of Raleigh] accused the mothers and their children of 'criminal wrongdoings' and asked them about gang activity," said Emancipate NC.

“When a policy lacks specifics about how you are supposed to operate, it leaves room for a lot of error. It leaves it up to the officers’ interpretation … and we know when they lean on their own interpretation, as we’ve seen in the past, they make mistakes,” Kerwin Pittman says.

“Sheriff Rowe was incredibly transparent during his campaign,” said Dawn Blagrove. “He made clear that he intends to address overcrowding in the jail, repair distrust in the Black community, allow real community involvement in policies and issues the Sheriff’s Office has struggled with in the past, and be a partner in creating accountability.”

Elizabeth Simpson stated, “Police departments that operate under best practices prioritize the sanctity of human life over the small chance someone could destroy evidence during a brief pause to permit voluntary entry.”

"I know and understand that people's lives depend on this policy, and will individuals be held accountable for breaking these policies?" Kerwin Pittman asked.

"She's traumatized, you're talking about my child, she does not want to go back to school," Jarrett Jenkins said. Emancipate's Dedan Waciuri assisted the Jenkins family to organize the press conference about a School Resource Officer assaulting a teen girl at school.

“It is imperative that the people demand very strong retribution, and reprimand for officers who have not taken the necessary steps to ensure that someone who is in their custody, in their care, is properly cared for,” Dawn Blagrove added.

“It’s a struggle to try to feed your loved one, to stay in contact with them," Cierra Cobb said.

"There's a growing consensus nationwide that our child welfare system has focused too much on removing children from their homes," Elizabeth Simpson contended.

"Protesters are seeking compensatory and punitive damages, along with attorneys’ fees in the newest lawsuit. They are represented by ... Ian Mance of Emancipate N.C."

"What we are about to do is awaken a sleeping giant," Kerwin Pittman said.

"They are terrorizing [B]lack and brown communities and allowing their officers to terrorize [B]lack and brown communities for things that do not impact safety," Dawn Blagrove said.

"I’ve seen a lot of people lose sight of reality and go crazy back there," Kerwin Pittman said.

“States judges are the last line of defense to protect civil rights and personal autonomy,” said Dawn Blagrove, an attorney and executive director of Emancipate NC.

“[It is a way] to uplift and [expose] and to let people know what is really going on inside the system and to just keep people updated on all the things going on and how people are being treated,” Cierra Cobb said.

Civil rights attorney Ian Mance of Emancipate NC noted in an interview that justices are now holding prosecutors to a higher standard.

"Ashlee has needed this surgery for a very long time, and she has suffered without it. Unfortunately, North Carolina incarcerates far too many people in its state prisons and it has not provided adequate resources to take care of all their medical needs,” Elizabeth Simpson said

“It is indisputable that our system is wrought with systemic and institutional racism,” Dawn Blagrove said. “I stand here today calling on the council to honor, acknowledge and pay for the harm that has been caused.”

Ian Mance, Dawn Blagrove and Elizabeth Simpson sent a letter to the City Council on Monday saying they had watched the developments with “a growing sense of alarm."

“Gov. Cooper and Attorney General Stein are actively enabling white domestic terrorism by turning a blind eye to the threat against the life of a Black elected official,” Dawn Blagrove said.

"Much of these attempts are going to be Band-Aids until we truly commit to divesting our safety from law enforcement. At that point, we will really be able to think creatively and freely about ways to create real safe communities," said Dawn Blagrove from Emancipate NC.

“Who knows what could have been if James was on the outside still speaking positivity for a lot of the youth in Greenville, North Carolina that actually looked up to him as a mentor," said Dedan Waiciuri.

“Solitary confinement is not meant, by no means, to rehabilitate you. It is meant to break your spirit," said Kerwin Pittman.

"Justice has been delayed for her too long and denied for this family far too long. It's now time for her to reap what she has sown," said Kerwin Pittman at Emancipate NC

“That is their loved one. That is their mother, brother, sister, daughter, father. They should definitely know what happened," said Cierra Cobb with Emancipate NC.

"Tyrrell County's monument to 'faithful slaves' and slaveholders conveys a racially hostile message, and it has no place at a courthouse expected to administer equal justice under law," said Ian Mance, an attorney at Emancipate NC.

"Master Officer P.W. Coates … lusted for any pretext to murder a mentally unstable man with suicidal ideations." said Dawn Blagrove, the Executive Director for Emancipate NC.

“My brother was not an animal," said Jasiel Nunez Rodriguez, represented by Emancipate NC.

“Why in the world should Raleigh be paying for an officer who chose to abuse the trust that he was given, by killing a man who was in a mental health crisis?” said Dawn Blagrove.

"If nobody is being held to report to this database, then what good are they?" Kerwin Pittman said.

A judge ordered the footage released during a hearing last week in which both the family, represented by Emancipate NC, and the police petitioned for its publication.

“(It) will hopefully ignite, or reignite, the black radical tradition,” Dedan Waciuri said.

"No amount of money can change what I felt that day, no amount of money can bring back the people [who Raleigh police have fatally shot in recent years]," said Nyee'ya Williams, who was represented in settlement talks by Emancipate NC

"We all are organizers," Kerwin Pittman said. "Don't wait for somebody to make the change. You make the change."

“We have a lot of pretend progressives, people who say the right thing, who show up during election time and promise things,” said Dawn Blagrove from Emancipate NC

“These changes are smoke and mirrors. We know they are changes without changes,” said Dawn Blagrove from Emancipate NC.

"We hope District Attorney Waters uses this rebuke of the case presented against Lester as a moment to reflect on his role and responsibility as a district attorney," said Cierra Cobb from Emancipate NC.

"I think they got it backward. They need to be showing officers how to respond to citizens." said Kerwin Pittman.

“Because of the outsized power that law enforcement has to create narratives that make them look least culpable at best, it is even more critical that we are as a community are very skeptical of initial reports from law enforcement,” says Dawn Blagrove of Emancipate NC.

“Instead of buying Tasers to escalate and incite violence on behalf of law enforcement — in situations where very often it’s not needed or warranted — this money could be invested in de-escalation trainings,” Dawn Blagrove said.

Dawn Blagrove, executive director of Emancipate NC, said the use of the taser “was completely unwarranted,” and “completely premature.”

Cierra Cobb, family advocate for Emancipate NC, said they weren’t asking for a pity party, but for a fair jury to look at the evidence and make a fair decision.

"Lester being locked away has caused so much devastation. Lester is innocent ... and Lester is a kind person. He would never commit such a heinous crime." said Doris Lashey at the Emancipate NC press conference.

I’m pretty sure if it was one of their kids, they would push the [body cam videos] to be released,” said Kenya Walton, Emancipate NC client.

“They are scared they are going to die from COVID, due to not being able to keep up with Centers for Disease Control guidelines,” Kerwin Pittman added.

"The only way to break the chain [of teen violence], is to invest in communities and teens" said Kerwin Pittman

“What happened behind the scenes is what almost always happens. The sheriffs’ association used its incredibly outsized power at the General Assembly and got that done,” said Dawn Blagrove

"There's no way to claim equity or fairness in a process when the results so disproportionately deny life and liberty to black children," Blagrove asserted.

"This trial invokes an emotion that's sickening . . . [it's] white man's justice and black man's grief in the criminal justice system," said Kerwin Pittman.

“Your repeated conclusory statements will not be sufficient assurance that she is safe from harm and not subject to coercion and retaliation, while she continues to be a woman incarcerated in a men’s prison,” Simpson wrote.

“There is a segment of our population who, number one, feels like they are silenced, and, number two, feels like their pain is not recognized,” Dawn Blagrove said.

Elizabeth Simpson, an attorney with Emancipate NC, said she believes that prison deaths over the past year and a half increased not only due to the virus but due to lack of access to care for chronic conditions.

“This bill HB805 is racist. It’s an anti-Black Lives Matter bill,” said attorney Dawn Blagrove with Emancipate NC.

Will you personally encourage citations over misdemeanor arrests, including for marijuana charges? asked Kerwin Pittman with Emancipate NC

"Facial recognition systems has shown disproportionate error rates in identifying Black and brown people, ultimately leading to wrongful arrests of black and brown people," Kerwin Pittman said.

“What we are seeing is Republicans finding the easiest, the most innocuous, the least impactful ways to create change to a system that needs massive overhaul without actually disrupting the system,” Dawn Blagrove, Emancipate NC Executive Director said.

Public defenders’ offices are underfunded across the country, but in North Carolina it is “especially egregious,” said Dawn Blagrove, executive director of racial justice group Emancipate NC. “It is a travesty and it is a guarantee that folks’ Sixth Amendment right to counsel will be decimated,” Blagrove said

“If [the police department is] not going to hold these officers accountable in a situation like this, when will they hold officers accountable?” said Ian Mance, attorney with Emancipate NC.

“Cierra Cobb, who works for Emancipate NC and is married to someone in state prison, said Stein’s silence on the state’s handling of COVID-19 in prisons has been disheartening.”

“Advocacy works,” Elizabeth Simpson, an attorney for Emancipate NC, said. “It is my fervent wish that everyone in prison would have someone who cares about them and is working hard to get decision makers to see their humanity.”

“We believe that it is important for the people of Fuquay-Varina to see Malcolm’s face while he experiences the trauma of this interaction. Hear the humiliation and fear in his voice," said Dawn Blagrove, Executive Director of Emancipate NC. "This situation could have been handled with so much more care.”

“And it’s hard to imagine what could be more coercive than telling someone that they’ll be sent back to prison if they don’t agree,” said Ian Mance, attorney with Emancipate NC.

"Within a week and one day, 350 people have called -- family members and people in prison," said Kerwin Pittman, about the flood of state prisoners calling the stimulus hotline set up by Emancipate NC.

“So if I whitewash the truth, if I water down the truth in a way that feels more palatable to the person who is oppressing me, then I am being complicit in my own oppression,” said Dawn Blagrove, Executive Director of Emancipate NC.

“I was always taught silence means acceptance, right? So, if I don't speak up and speak out about what you're doing to me, that means I accept what you're doing to me, because I'm a basic human and you're a basic human and we have human rights,” said Emancipate NC Organizer Kerwin Pittman.